₦airaland Forum

jmaine: Weak postulations . . . . . We know Funsho death was a grand design to lock lagos away as an ACN strong hold . . . .Which worked excellently . . .

The PDP were better off having Funsho alive to wrest lagos away from the ACN than killing him . . . .

Not compensating the wife of Funsho with her hubby's ticket can never be used as a yard stick in passing judgement . . .it's too weak . . .

The best we can have is accusations and counter accusations from both parties, simply because the police is lost and can't unravel the identity of the murderers . . .

Intervention funds: FG spends N2trn in two years

JANUARY 13, 2013 BY ALLWELL OKPI AND LEKE BAIYEWU


The Federal Government, under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, has spent at least N1.732trn on intervention funds in different sectors of the economy, SUNDAY PUNCH investigation has found.

The figure represents the sum of the amounts approved by the Federal Government as intervention funds between 2010, when Jonathan became President and December 2012.

Some of the intervention funds include the N200bn Small and Medium Guarantee Scheme, N200bn Restructuring and Refinancing Facility Scheme and the N300bn Power and Airline Intervention Fund.

Others are the N75bn Grooming Enterprise Leaders Business Intervention Fund, N32bn Entertainment Intervention Fund and N10.71bn Commercial Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme to six banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Also on the long list of intervention funds, are the N300bn approved for the hotel and leisure sub-sector in 2012; N200bn for indigenous pharmaceutical companies and N100bn textile industry bailout.

The Federal Government, between 2010 and 2012, also disbursed N126.1bn as export expansion grant.

Also in 2010, the Federal Government reportedly disbursed about N7.9bn to 25 companies from the National Automotive Fund. The money was for the production of vehicles, motorcycles and bicycle tyres and accessories.

An additional N3bn was earmarked for disbursement to nine companies before the end of that year.

In July 2012, the Federal Government approved N330m grants to assist 20,000 farmers in Lagos state.

Similarly, in November, 2012, the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, disbursed a soft loan worth N9.4m to members of the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Nasarawa State chapter.

As at July 2011, the Bank of Industry had reportedly disbursed N195bn out of the N200bn meant for the refinancing of the manufacturing sector to 518 companies across the six geo-political zones, while N83bn out of the N300bn for the power and aviation sectors had also been disbursed to companies in these sectors.

As part of Federal Government’s intervention in education in 2012, it approved N95.653bn for public tertiary institutions in the country, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

Within the period under review, the Federal Government disbursed several funds through the Universal Basic Education Commission. One of such was N94m disbursed to 125 communities in Bayelsa State, in September, 2011, for self-help projects.

In the agricultural sector, the CBN, through its Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, approved a take-off grant of N75bn to boost agriculture businesses.

The Head, Project Implementation of NIRSAL, CBN, Mr. Jude Uzonwanne, reportedly said N45bn from the N75bn had been set aside as loans to the farmers, while the balance would be used to train and insure them.

Irked by the situation in which government’s interventions have had little or no impact on the economy, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, conducted a survey and found that only six per cent of industrialists accessed the funds.

NACCIMA said this at the presentation of the survey report to stakeholders in July 2012.

NACCIMA President, Dr. Ademola Ajayi, said the intervention funds were faced with the problem of accessibility.

According to Ajayi, despite the Federal Government’s N100bn textile bailout fund, less than 25 per cent of textile manufacturers were operating above 50 per cent capacity utilisation.

Apart from inability of stakeholders to access the government’s intervention funds, there have been discrepancies in the administration of the funds.

While some of the funds have been diverted to other uses, parts of the funds can no longer be accounted for.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts, last year, raised the alarm over a missing N44bn from the Federal Government’s Special Intervention Fund on Solid Minerals.

The committee discovered the missing funds during an interactive session it had with officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The committee said despite the fact that the fund was created by the Federal Government as a special intervention fund to develop the non-oil sector of the nation’s economy, no project had been accomplished in the sector.

According to the Senator Ahmad Lawan-led committee, the records of the Federal Ministry of Finance and that of the Central Bank of Nigeria could not properly account for about N44bn, out of the total figure of N873bn, between 2002 and May 31, 2012.

The committee also found that part of the funds had been used to finance projects in other sectors.

Meanwhile, an anti-corruption group, Coalition for Against Corrupt Leaders, said Nigerians had yet to see the impact of the funds on their lives.

The Executive Chairman, CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said, “The funds are meant to settle the boys, the political elite. It is just a palliative to hoodwink people into believing that the government is helping them.

“The solution is not to dole out funds but to make sure jobs are generated and infrastructure is developed to encourage small and medium-scale industries. There should be micro-credit facilities for entrepreneurs to increase local content. Most intervention funds are a wrong step in the right direction. The government is just chasing shadows. The funds will not make people face the reality to be creative and productive.”

Another group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, said it was improper for the government to approve intervention funds for private enterprises, citing the example of the aviation sector.

The Executive Director, SERAP, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, said, “If the government allocates funds for public institutions, provided it is properly accounted for, it is acceptable; when such funds are for private businesses, it is not acceptable. Why use the public funds to intervene in private enterprises? It is unreasonable and unjustifiable.

“Spending on private businesses sounds fraudulent. Monies have been spent without proper account for them. The government can only give financial intervention, provided funds would be spent transparently and accountably.”

thelastPope: Lesson from the CPC paid apologist training classes:

Tip 1: If you dont have an answer to a post, just type "Omokri" or "laptop 40" or "One other insult"!

thelastPope: What are you quoting to us who lived in Nigeria and were already in secondary school in 1983? Please keep your stup1d foreign neutral junk to yourself. thank you!

thelastPope: You have finally sealed your fate! Comparing Nigeria in 1983 to Greece in 2013! I thought you were a sycophant. I was wrong! you are a paid apologist! That is why you would lie like this on a public forum. I dont need to say more!

thelastPope: But you believe Buhari, the petroleum minister from 1977-1979 who presided over the worst oil money theft then? Hypocrite and a paid sycophant, you are!

thelastPope: I called you an illiterate and I was sure right! Have you ever seen an economic crisis, if any, that was not caused by a failure in leadership? You are a funny guy! Go back to school!

thelastPope: There was nothing to disprove. How do you disprove a lie? You state the truth, simple as! You are spewing lies coined from your CPC handbook. There was no such problem as you have mentioned, only in your corrupt head and mind. The country was going through economic issues just like every other country in the world. Nothing like not being able to meet basic imports. I can see you were not born then. There was no day food was scarce in 1983. You are a liar! there is nothing to disprove in your lies. very funny chap!

thelastPope: To say that basic food was scarce before Buhari came in is one of the worst lies I have ever heard in my life! You are such a desperate and despicable liar. If basic food was scarce, then we would have had terrible hyper inflation! So why did the price of food not skyrocket and why did the value of the naira not drop? I can see you are a teenager who was probably not born then but are coming here to spread lies from CPC. In 1983, the price of Volk Wagen beattle car was N2, 500 and Lada was N2000. I was given 10kobo as pocket money and that made me a big boy. You are a lying machine.

Buhari set us back, at least, thirty years! He was a curse to Nigeria!

thelastPope: You are either a bold faced liar or a CPC paid apologist! Nigeria was not in any crisis in 1983. Countries constantly go through economic issues and debates year in year out. So according to you, the military should have overthrown Obama in December since they were on the verge of a major economic crash.

In 1983, I was given free books in school and enjoyed near 24 hours power supply. Our schools were all renovated and working perfectly. In 1983, those who graduated from universities around the country were given jobs and official cars in most organisations were they got employment. In 1983, Nigerians never even considered leaving the country to go abroad and Nigerians didnt require a visa to enter the US and UK. I dont know what crisis you are talking about. The crisis is obviously only in your warped brain and partisan mind.

thelastPope: I can bet my hard earned money you were not even born then!
.
How bad was the economy then? It was N1 to $1. That was really bad, wasn't it? It was N300 for tocket to London and you didn't even need a visa! It was free education at all level and NEPA was great!
.
What was the crisis again? Yeah, I remember. Buhari was the crisis! He was the setback! He is the reason for what Nigeria is today! He solely put us in this mess! He was the stup1d ruler who overthrew a civilian democracy at its early stages and set us back 30 years. The country was not even in a crisis at the time! Anyone who says military overthrow is a solution for an infant democracy trying to find a balance is a foool and a wicked soul! Look what it has cost us now! It is sad and shameful that Buhari is still talking about ruling Nigeria! An insult to every Nigerian!

Idowuogbo: so bcus she carry sports direct bag dat automatically means shes broke? ur mentality needs tushing o!

like d rich and famous dont shop in primark. *yimu for u*

nwabobo: Prof Bart Nnaji, the Minister of Power, said on Friday that power supply in the country would reach above 9,000mw by December if all challenges confronting gas supply were resolved.

Nnaji made the statement in Abuja at a one-day meeting between the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Petroleum Resources with other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector.

“As you know, the Federal Government has been doing a lot to ensure that we rapidly accelerate power supply situation in the country,’’ he said.

Nnaji said Mr President launched the power roadmap in 2010 and“ as part of that, we are aligning the entire value chain of power production level. “The critical element in that is that of gas supply.’’

He said the ` `Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Ministry of Power have been working together to ensure that we bridge whatever gap.’’

The minister said the country would collaborate with international oil producers and the producers of gas and transportation to ensure that the gap was filled.

He explained that when all the National Integrated Power Producers would start functioning in December and gas supply was steady to the plants, more electricity would get to consumers.

According to him, many of the independent power producers are ready except gas supply, which is holding them from taking off. NAN


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/power-supply-to-hit-9000mw-in-december-nnaji-promises/

Nigeria state oil firm borrows $1.5 bln to pay fuel debt -source

LAGOS/GENEVA | Mon Jan 7, 2013 4:42pm GMT
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Nigerian state oil firm NNPC has obtained a $1.5 billion syndicated loan to help it pay debts to international fuel traders, a senior banking source with knowledge of the deal said on Monday.

The deal was struck at the end of last year and is seen as crucial to easing the burden on big commodity traders facing the prospect of painful multi-million dollar write-offs, oil trading sources told Reuters.

Had Nigeria defaulted on these loans it could have restricted the future borrowing capacity of Africa's second largest economy and would have worried credit agencies like Fitch and Standard and Poors, which recently upgraded Nigeria.

The loan, provided by several Nigerian and international banks and brokered by Standard Chartered, will be paid back over five and half years. The NNPC has put up 15,000 barrels per day of its oil production as collateral, the banking source said.

Standard Chartered and the NNPC declined requests for official comment.

The top African oil producer's NNPC owes major commodity trading houses, including Glencore and Mercuria, around $3.5 billion in unpaid fuel supply bills, according to a report last year commissioned by the Nigerian oil ministry.

OPEC member Nigeria is among the world's top 10 crude oil exporters but has insufficient refining capacity to meet its domestic fuel needs and is heavily reliant on imports, on which it pays costly subsidies to keep a lid on retail petrol prices.

President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to end fuel subsidies in Nigeria a year ago but backed down after it sparked wide-spread protests against higher fuel costs.

Decades of mismanagement and corruption have left NNPC heavily indebted, several audits have shown.

A list of creditors published in an oil report earlier this year showed there were 35 firms still owed for fuel.

Trading companies have been battling for months to recoup the money and some have since stopped supplying Nigeria with fuels. But they have mostly remained in the west African country partly because of huge opportunities in the upstream sector.

The list showed that Glencore was owed $138 million, Vitol was owed $198 million and Trafigura was owed $53 million.

In reality, debts for some individual trading companies are widely thought to be much higher due to exposure via subsidiaries and partner firms.

For example, Bermuda corporate registration documents showed that Calson, owed $115.11 million by NNPC, was using Vitol's Geneva address. Similarly, Napoil, owed $75.6 million, is a partner of Trafigura, its website showed. (Additional reporting and writing by Joe Brock; editing by Tim Cocks and James Jukwey)

Maxymilliano: None of Fashola's policy troubles me if you must know, but if you talk of the elite, come to the mainland, especially places like Aboru, Baruwa, Abesan, Agbado Oke-Odo, Ifako- Ijaiye, Command, and other less fortunate areas in on the mainland

If Fashola can dissipate a quarter of what he's doing on the Island into those places, you yourself won't be here haranguing any differing poster.

koruji: What insult? The article is worthless - that is not an insult but truth?
There was no real point to the article except to stereotype Ondo people.

I have no idea what money you are talking about - if you know please share.
You said you won't trade stats but then go on to suggest you know some stats about money.

If you don't know my position about governance in Nigeria please visit my recent post on here: Re: If You Were President, How Much Would You Steal?

It is funny that the same people that would like to lambast the best governor in Nigeria and his mentor see no reason to lambast PDP, OBJ, GEJ and all the other goons that have been milking Nigeria dry since 1999 - let's not forget that Obasanjo was caught in broad daylight with $45k cash transported from Nigeria to USA in contravention of the latter's law. We have glaring cases of corruption that "cannot" be prosecuted because it is Nigeria - even less concerned nations have made those involved pay for their crimes.

There is one governor in Nigeria today that publishes budgets and projects online - that would be Fashola. There is only one governor that through his actions, building on Tinubu's initial successes, has shown the international community that Nigeria can be better than the general political class makes it out to be - Fashola. There is one governor that successfully implemented mass transit, had West Africa's first suspension bridge built, is changing a Federal road into a 10-lane international expressway, is bringing a $6 billion investment through the Eko Atlantic project to live before our very eyes, among 100s more projects - that would be Fashola. They forget that Tinubu administered Lagos with great results as OBJ illegally held on to LG allocations for the state.

Certainly Lagos is far from El-Dorado, but Fashola is blazing trails that the permanently-redundant FG, even with its N5 trillion annual budget, cannot dream of. We should join hands to encourage even better performance rather than returning to a race to the bottom, bring-him-down-because-he-is-more-perfect-than-the-rest-but-not-perfect, attitude. If what Fashola is doing could be accomplished by anybody and another party, Lagos would be better than Dubai today because we always knew Lagos needed these things and plans that came to naught were made for decades.

Charlattans who see the results of hard work are thinking let us take it over so we can get the glory - after all it is privately funded, world bank funded and such crap!!! They forget that the confidence in Lagos is due to the attitude, intelligence, vision and hard work of the current leaders. Attributes that these charlatans are lacking - they will destroy Fashola's and Tinubu's good works and we would be the losers for it.

Even OBJ, bad as an administrator as he was, left Nigeria slightly better than he met it. But what did Yar'adua and GEJ do afterwards - they tore OBJ's fledgling projects down and then proceeded to build nothing to make our lives better. Compare that to how Fashola has cooperated with his mentor, carried on from where the latter left off and is currently surpassing his achievements - as it should be.

Enough said.

rhymz: All you see is the pressure on Lagos but you forget that Lagos is a beneficiary of the large population. The fact that people migrate to Lagos and even invest there is a drain to their homestate. IGR that Lagos boasts of is largely from this huge population, so make we hear word jare! Lagos and fashola are overrated, his achievements are not at par with the amount of money that goes into the state's coffers every month, most of the meaningful projects and developments in Lagos are either PPP driven or solely private sector driven. The so-called schools he renovated are just average schools that still do not attract parents. Lagos state still has the largest concentration of private schools and patronage. The qualitity of the new roads being built are in doubt, some of them are already facing rehabilitation repair. And where are the 5000 schools? Abi na for your dreams? You call mere painting and resurfacing building blocks of class rooms. . .hahahah. .guy you dey jones.